White Papers & Articles

Discover IT Belarus

Belarus is one of the top emerging European ITO and BPO destinations. This white paper explains why Belarus is an attractive IT outsourcing destination by examining the history of IT in Belarus and the current state of its IT industry. It explains why nearshoring in Belarus is beneficial, pointing to reasons such as availability of highly specialized IT talent, government support of outsourcing initiatives, Belarus’s favorable geographic location, cultural proximity, and considerable cost savings for Western companies. Discover why Belarus is becoming one of the most attractive regions for outsourcing and nearshoring here.

Historical Overview of IT in Belarus

The IT industry in Belarus has deep historical roots. Since Soviet times, Belarus was known as the most technically advanced republic. In fact, Belarus used to manufacture over 50% of the computers and computer components in the former USSR with the computer production facilities and design institutes concentrated in Minsk, the capital of the country.

After its independence in 1991, Belarus inherited a mature high-tech industry, which still forms the basis of the success of the IT industry in Belarus today. Belarus has since become a leading IT
outsourcing destination in the Central Eastern European (CEE) region. In the past 15 years the expor t of IT services from Belarus grew more than 52 times, and the total export volume of elarusian IT services grew to 5.3%.

Access to an Essential Pool of IT Professionals

More than 40 years of scientific research in hi-tech fields created a world-leading system of technical education and training. As a result, the country’s scientific and academic infrastructure still produces top quality engineeri ng specialists. The well-establ ished higher education institutions in Belarus, paired with a reliance on technical education,created an excellent basis for training qualified programmers. Every year about 16,000 IT-related specialists graduate from Belarusian universities. The Belarusian education system is unique especially in its focus on fundamentals, science, and logical thinking,which gives Belarusian graduates the ability to develop creative and highly functional solutions.

Government Support

Special laws to promote the software industry
During the past few years,the IT sector in Belarus became one of the top-priority economic areas in the country. The Belarusian ICT industry receives government support such as simplification of the process to establish IT businesses and a preferential taxation regime to accelerate the development of ICT services. The new policies ensure things such as providing exemption from VAT,profit, real estate and even payroll taxes. The favorable business climate allowed for an unprecedented growth of the country’s IT industry, reaching an estimated market value of almost 560 million USD.

Cultural Proximity and Western Mentality

Due to the close proximity to EU countries Belarus profitably uses its location for active cultural and mental exchange.Belarusians share the same cultural and business principles with customers in Europe and the USA. The FORBES Magazine concludes that: “In the last fifteen years Belarus has quickly grown individualistic with all the values of the western mind. The country is strongly West-oriented. An average Belarusian can laugh at the same things that American will do; their working process and the way of making business is similar to the American and European.”

So why choose Belarus for your outsourcing needs?

Competitive prices and favorable investment climate;

Highly skilled IT work force,supported by a robust higher education systems;

Special business and taxation conditions for IT industry;

IT Services market growing at 25% annually, with over 4,000 IT graduates annually;

Cultural ties to Europe and geographical proximity;

Advanced network of research institutions to support industrialized economy.

For more information download full version of our Discover IT Ukraine white paper.